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Former Munster No.8 to captain Bulls with Vermeulen rested

(Photo By Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Former Munster back row Arno Botha is set to captain Jake White’s Bulls as they take on the Phakisa Pumas in their final regular-season Carling Currie Cup match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

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Botha takes over the captaincy with Duane Vermeulen earning a well-deserved break as Tim Agaba steps up to the plate at the back of the scrum. Young WJ Steenkamp rounds out the exciting loose trio. Botha left Munster last May after spending two seasons with the Irish province.

The Bulls team sees a host of U21 champions tasting senior rugby for the first time. Dawid Kellerman takes over the inside centre position alongside Marnus Potgieter. Clinton Swart starts at fullback as the utility back continues to show his worth across the backline, while Jade Stighling and Stravino Jacobs continue to patrol the wings. Experienced Springboks, Morné Steyn and Ivan van Zyl resume their successful halfback partnership.

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Janko Swanepoel will make his first start of the Carling Currie Cup at no.5 lock, after a debut of the bench a few days ago against the Xerox Lions. There’s an all-new and exciting front row in Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Gerhard Steenekamp propping up Joe van Zyl.

The replacements are a mix of experience and youth, with Springboks Lizo Gqoboka and Marcel van der Merwe serving as backup props while Divan Venter, Keagan Johannes and Kabelo Mokoena all looking to earn their debuts.

“This is a great opportunity for us to give some of our exciting youngsters a taste of senior rugby. These boys have done really well on the training field and have been eagerly awaiting their opportunity, and now they get to show what they are made of on the big stage. It’s important that they get up to speed with their senior colleagues while still securing a victory in Nelspruit.” White explained.

Vodacom Bulls: 15. Clinton Swart, 14. Jade Stighling, 13. Marnus Potgieter, 12. Dawid Kellerman, 11. Stravino Jacobs, 10. Morné Steyn, 9. Ivan van Zyl, 8. Tim Agaba, 7. Arno Botha (C), 6. WJ Steenkamp, 5. Janko Swanepoel, 4. Jan Uys, 3. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 2. Joe van Zyl, 1. Gerhard Steenekamp.

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Replacements: 16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Lizo Gqoboka, 18. Marcel van der Merwe, 19. Divan Venter, 20. Elrigh Louw, 21. Keagan Johannes, 22. Kabelo Mokoena, 23. Jay-Cee Nel.

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Bull Shark 5 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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